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What's a Wreck?

A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

baking powder is NOT forbidden on Passover. What is forbidden is of wheat, spelt, rye, barley or oats that have been in contact with water for 18 minutes without cooking. That is the definition of chametz. leavening is a bad translation. Kosher for Passover baking powder is available

To give proper credit, the Moses/Parting-the-sea cake was the brainchild and creation of Betsy Neely, a Vanderbilt Divinity Student, for the Divinity School's annual spring gala in 2008. And I believe the cake was "Red" velvet under the frosting/waves.

Passover cake mixes and pre-made cakes are notoriously bad, so I was thrilled when my mother found the following recipe a few years ago. It's really good, and not just for Passover-- I've made it for the past few Thanksgivings, too.

I think you mean the Red Sea, not the Dead Sea. Whole different sea and depth. Let's not forget that the Hebrews (they weren't Israelites just yet) had wagons and the like. You can't pull those in deep nor shallow water. Mud's a big issue, as well as possible floatability or dumpability.

Also, had the waters not been parted, God wouldn't have thrown them back together in order to trap and destroy the pursuing Egyptians.

I hope this helps clear up things. If not, a little research does the trick.

I'm flabbergasted that some people do such possible trickery just to sell a product during Passover. Why provide it at all, if its not Kosher for Jews?

Thanks for the Passover wrecks! Unfortunately, most of the traditional passover cake wrecks involve taste/texture, not appearance :(

*Loved* the Moses one, even if it wasn't technically correct (either religiously or ingredients-wise). And at least that Russian baker tried... failed miserably, but at least had got some of the concept. Better than those tales of hams other readers posted!! (?!?)

If the meal is fish or vegetarian (ie not meat), then dairy can be served. In which case, there are LOTS of options today. I've had great success with the Death by Chocolate cookbook series -- seriously chocoholic decadent options. If it's a fleishic meal (ie meat)... then it's a LOT tougher finding tasty yet parev passover-friendly cakes. There's a few matza-meal brownie recipes out there that are good, and Nigella Lawson's clementine cake (with K4P baking powder) works-- and is so good, I always keep some in my freezer for impromptu entertaining.

Regarding some of the posters' comments about Kosher for Passover (in case bakers read this and get confused):

* More than just wheat/rye/barley, etc are not kosher. The Eastern European tradition (aka Ashkenazi) also rules out corn (hence the comments about corn starch and corn syrup), lentils, chick peas, soy, rice, etc. The Sephardi tradition (aka descendents of Spanish Jews) says those are fair game.

* if cooking/baking for people who may be religious, you can't use anything made from those ingredients, either-- so no pasta or soy sauce, for example. Or corn syrup.

* you can always use ground up or broken up matza, however. As long as the matza's K4P. (Yes, as crazy as it may sound, there is matza out there that isn't kosher for passover)

* you can technically have hametz (leavened goods) in the house, if you sell it to a non-Jew (and then buy it back). And obviously can't consume any of it during the 8 days of Passover-- since you don't own it! ;)

* passover baking: ground almonds and egg whites are your friends.

There's quite a few other rules & regs, so check with someone before you undertake a Passover dish. I'm not particularly observant, but I learned the rules so that I know and understand what I don't follow. Since I have family who are very observant, I tend to do the baking for passover because it can be such a minefield.